State Dems Accused of Libel

Memo to Dem donors: this is where your donations may be going. The following letter was sent by the Houston law firm representing the non-partisan True the Vote, the independent group that was on the receiving end of state Democrat's latest smear.

Mr. Mike Tate, Chairman

Democratic Party of Wisconsin

110 King Street, Suite 203

Madison, WI 53703

Re: Libelous Public Statements by Mr. G. Zielinski, Democratic Party of Wisconsin

Dear Mr. Tate:

This law firm represents King Street Patriots and True the Vote, two independent, non-partisan and non-profit grassroots citizens organizations headquartered in Houston, TX.

One of the groups, True the Vote, is formed for the purpose of involving citizens who are dedicated to voter integrity and ensuring that elections are conducted in accordance with applicable law. To that end, True the Vote has worked with other grassroots citizens organizations in Wisconsin to help bring transparency and integrity to the current recall effort in Wisconsin. True the Vote has involved many thousands of citizen volunteers in reviewing the petitions filed with the Government Accountability Board (“GAB”) for purposes of ascertaining that the petition signers are indeed duly qualified voters in the State of Wisconsin, as required by law.

Apparently as a result of these activities, my client(s) have drawn the attention of your Director of Communications, Graeme Zielinski, who has attacked and defamed our clients and has made serious, unfounded and false allegations against them.

In an electronic communication using the Twitter platform yesterday, Mr. Zielinski sent two messages relating to my clients. The first stated “Why has @GovWalker embraced the King Street Patriots when they are so obviously a dangerous and deranged group? …” (March 1, 2012). That reprehensible communication was followed shortly thereafter by one even more offensive and alarming, in which he falsely accused True the Vote of having been ‘implicated in arson’.

There is no truth whatsoever to your employee’s allegation that True the Vote was “implicated in an arson”.

The “arson” to which he is presumably referring was a fire at the warehouse in which the Harris County, Texas voting machines were stored which, after formal investigation by the Houston Fire Department, was deemed to have been caused by an electrical malfunction.

There is absolutely no basis for this false and outrageous statement by Mr. Zielinski accusing my client of criminal misconduct. I am quite certain that if you confer with your counsel, he/she will confirm that it is libel per se to falsely accuse another of criminal acts.

We hereby demand an immediate retraction of this libelous, defamatory and completely false statement, together with a formal apology from both Mr. Zielinski and the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

True the Vote and King Street Patriots are non-partisan organizations. True the Vote is dedicated solely to the concept and ideal of maintaining the integrity of our voting process. The volunteers involved with both organizations include Democrats, Republicans and Independents who contribute their time to help prevent irregularities in our election process.

Neither organization supports/opposes any candidate or political party. We would hope that the Wisconsin Democratic Party would welcome rather than abuse the efforts by citizens across the nation to ensure voter integrity in the election process.

We will expect your immediate response and retraction by letter to the undersigned, published in a press release, on your web site, on your Facebook page, communicated by Mr. Zielinski through his ‘Twitter’ account, and through other forms of normal and social communications that you utilize.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Brock C. Akers, Phillips, Akers and Womac

This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.